Baroness Amos: Each Northern Ireland department decides whether to charge for Freedom of Information requests on a case by case basis. The Department for Constitutional Affairs has produced guidance on when charging would be appropriate in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and dhe Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. The guidance is available at the following address www.foi.gov.uk/feesguide.htm and additional guidance produced by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister has been placed in the Library.

Baroness Amos: The PSNI have informed me that statistics about road traffic collisions are collated using roundabouts and defined junctions as dividing points, and that it would involve disproportionate cost to split the data in the way requested. However, statistics are available for the number of collisions between Sprucefield roundabout and the Carnbane Roundabout at the north side of Newry City. The figures are set out in the table below and cover the period from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2004.
	
		
			  Numbers 
			 Number of injury collisions 160 
			 Number of persons killed 15 
			 Number of persons seriously injured 46 
			 Number of persons slightly injured 258

Baroness Amos: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the noble Lord in response to this question.
	Letter from Dr Malcolm McKibbin to Lord Laird dated 18 March 2005.
	You recently asked Her Majesty's Government what figures they have on the volume of traffic using the A1 road in Northern Ireland on the sections (a) between Sprucefield and Loughbrickland; and (b) between Loughbrickland and the land border with the Irish Republic, in each of the past five years [HL1735]. I have been asked to reply as the issue raised falls within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
	Roads Service carries out continuous traffic counting at five sites on the A1 between Sprucefield and Loughbrickland and at six sites between Loughbrickland and the land border. The available data on the average volume of vehicles per day recorded in each of the past five years is shown in the table below.
	
		
			 A1-Sprucefield to Loughbrickland  
			 Location Year   
			  1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
			 Sprucefield-Hillsborough n/a 31,090 33,450 34,790 33,980 
			 Lisburn-Hillsborough n/a 31,090 33,450 34,790 33,980 
			 Hillsborough Bypass n/a n/a n/a n/a 27,420 
			 Dromore-Banbridge 21,220 21,120 22,530 23,510 23,720 
			 Banbridge Bypass 16,610 16,960 16,240 17,810 17,730 
			 A1-Loughbrickland to the border Location  
			 Loughbrickland-Newry 16,550 16,940 16,870 17,110 17,980 
			 Newry Bypass Stage I 15,010 16,600 15,040 16,690 17,670 
			 Newry Bypass Stage II n/a 20,860 20,440 22,440 23,210 
			 Newry Bypass Stage III 13,210 14,570 13,640 15,230 15,710 
			 Dublin Road, Newry 17,620 19,320 18,290 19,080 19,680 
			 Newry-Border 18050 18,990 17,720 18,000 17,600 
		
	
	I trust this is helpful.

Baroness Amos: Further to my Written Answer of 7 September 2004 (WA 105), I can confirm that:
	(a) Aside from the grant of £250,000 which I informed the noble Lord about in my previous Answer, no further funding was made available to the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO) for the purchase of property before December 2004; and
	(b) The property in question is nearing completion and the organisation is making arrangements to move its operations into the new building on or around 1 April 2005.

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office encourages all British nationals entering Iraq to register their details with the British Embassy in Baghdad. There are currently 736 British nationals registered, the majority of which are in and around Baghdad.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Although Northern Ireland does not have council tax, similar arrangements will be introduced for ratepayers in Northern Ireland. Households in Northern Ireland with someone aged 65 and over who is not in receipt of the guarantee credit element of pension-credit will receive the £200 payment announced in Budget 2005. Similarly households with someone aged over 70 who is in receipt of the guarantee element of pension credit will receive the £50 payment announced at the 2004 Pre-Budget Report

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: As stated in my previous Written Answers, there are no consolidated figures available for applied construction research across government. The DTI is, however, the largest sponsor of applied research.
	The DTI's innovation report and business support review recommended its research competitions are no longer linked to individual sectors such as construction, but focus the funds we have available on supporting industry led technological development in areas with clear market focus and delivering broader public benefits.
	It is too early to say what level of support the construction industry will be able to obtain, and how this will compare to the previous levels of funding available to the sector.
	Expected Spend Forecast:
	(a) Research underpinning Building Regulations
	
		
			  
			 2004–05 £5.2 million 
			 2005–06 £6.2 million 
		
	
	(b) Other applied Construction Research (current commitments only)
	
		
			  
			 2004–05 £5.5 million 
			 2005–06 £3 million 
		
	
	In addition, funding of £3.4 million has been approved for projects with a direct construction relevance from the April 2004 competition. The funding year profiles for these projects have yet to be finalised.
	The 2005–06 figures will be further augmented by projects successful in the proposed November 2005 and spring 2006 technology competitions.